Industry Lobbyist Named to Air Board

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday named a personable energy industry lobbyist who has fought against many of the state’s toughest air pollution regulations to head California’s powerful air quality agency.

Cindy Tuck, whose efforts on behalf of oil refineries and power plants include opposing a landmark law to combat global warming that the governor champions, was named chairwoman of the Air Resources Board.

Although environmentalists denounced the appointment, business groups and some air quality officials supported Schwarzenegger’s choice of Tuck, a registered lobbyist for the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance.

“Her expertise is vital to ensuring California continues to lead the nation in setting air quality standards while at the same time balancing the need to keep our economy strong and thriving,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

But Democrats in the California Senate vowed to block Tuck’s appointment, calling her unfit to head the internationally renowned air pollution agency that forced automakers to add catalytic converters three decades ago and approved regulations to reduce greenhouse gases from car tailpipes last year.

“As a lobbyist for major oil companies and the power plant industry, who has opposed every major air quality law passed by the Legislature in recent years, Ms. Tuck is not the right person to help the board carry out its mission of protecting the air our families breathe,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata (D-Oakland).

Supporters described Tuck, a 45-year-old Sacramento lawyer, as a personable behind-the-scenes player who has demonstrated a willingness to compromise on many environmental issues.

“We have worked with Cindy Tuck for many years and she has always worked to bring people together,” said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which is charged with fighting smog in the Los Angeles region. “Sometimes you have to separate the person from who they are representing, unless they have crossed some moral line.”

But opponents said Tuck routinely opposed California’s most ambitious air pollution measures, making her a particularly poor choice to lead the state’s fight against smog and global warming.

“What’s really alarming is that this is the kind of appointment that [President] Bush makes, putting someone from an industry in charge of the government agency that is supposed to be cleaning up that industry,” said Sierra Club lobbyist Bill Magavern.

Alan Lloyd, Schwarzenegger’s environmental protection secretary and the former chairman of the air board, said he became convinced during interviews with Tuck that her past opposition to air pollution regulations would not prevent her from promoting the positions of her new boss.

Schwarzenegger, who has laid out an environmental agenda that sets him apart from many Republican officeholders, made a highly publicized campaign pledge to reduce air pollution by 50% and recently signed an executive order to slash greenhouse gases by more than 80% over the next half a century.

“There is no way whatsoever that she would have been appointed if she had not been committed to implementing the governor’s environmental action plan, including the greenhouse gas targets,” Lloyd said.

Tuck did not return phone calls Tuesday.

Since Lloyd left the post last January, the Schwarzenegger administration has engaged in a lengthy, sometimes contentious internal debate on who should chair the air board.

Environmentalists told Schwarzenegger officials that they opposed Tuck and favored another top candidate, Jason Grumet, the executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan panel that recently recommended a national plan to tackle global warming that is being considered by the U.S. Senate. But Grumet was opposed by some business interests, including General Motors, who preferred Tuck.

Some Democrats, meanwhile, warned Schwarzenegger officials that they would probably reject Tuck when her confirmation came before the state Senate Rules Committee.

Schwarzenegger, siding against some of his own environmental advisors, stuck with Tuck, whose lobbying group had supported a plan by the governor last year to increase fees to raise money for air pollution programs.

Tuck’s appointment especially upset advocates of environmental justice, or equal protection from toxic threats for minorities and the poor. Tuck has represented business interests in an Air Resources Board panel that debated ways to address such concerns.

“She has been very reasonable with me, but the bottom line is that she has advocated positions that are the antithesis of environmental justice,” said Joe Lyou, executive director of the California Environmental Rights Alliance. “I didn’t think this is what we’d be in for when the governor said we didn’t have to worry about his environmental policies.”